When a person calls Triple Zero (000) to get help for someone in cardiac arrest, a Queensland Ambulance Service (QAS) call taker will start guiding them through cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).
While the call-takers, or Emergency Medical Dispatchers (EMDs), do their best to keep the caller calm and reassured, there is always a level of uncertainty about whether effective resuscitation is being performed in the high stress environment.
The EMD will guide the caller through what to do, count compressions with them and hope their support gives their patient the best chance of life in the vital moments before paramedics arrive.
Thankfully for Gympie man Luke Ellis, the caller was his wife Jasmine, who remained calm and composed when he started to gasp and display seizure-like activity at his family home – just two days after his 47th birthday.
Jasmine, Luke and their two children, Archie and Bella, and had just settled down with some chocolate to snack on while watching a movie when things took a horrific turn, with Luke starting to experience severe cardiac symptoms.
Jasmine instructed Bella to call Triple Zero (000), where EMD Kalin Franks gathered the information to get help to them.
The teams sent to the Ellis family’s house included paramedics Mark Carlaw, Selene Watson, Steve Darnell, Paityn Derrick, Jeffrey Kolb and student paramedic Sunni Lobegeiger.
Meanwhile Kalin continued to guide Jasmine on how to perform CPR on Luke, which she did for six minutes until the first team arrived.
During this time, Jasmine had sent her children outside to flag down the ambulance and ensure the paramedics could get inside – but most importantly, this also helped to keep the children witnessing their father’s resuscitation.
Once paramedics arrived on scene, they shocked Luke with their defibrillator eight times before they achieved Return Of Spontaneous Circulation (ROSC).
Luke was then transported Code 1 to Gympie Hospital, before being transported to the Sunshine Coast University Hospital for further care.
Thankfully, because of the exceptional interventions by all involved, Luke spent a few weeks in hospital recovering before returning home to his family.
In August, a few months after his cardiac arrest, the Ellis family reunited with the paramedics who saved his life at the Gympie Ambulance Station.
Critical Care Paramedic (CCP) Jeffrey Kolb was there to greet Luke and his family, saying how ‘soul filling’ it was to see their hard work had paid off.
“His family really gave Luke the best chance by calling Triple Zero (000) and starting compressions,” Jeffrey said.
“Followed then by the work of the team, they saved his life with assessment, early defibrillation, perseverance, and continued quality care.”
QAS Clinical Education Manager Tony Hucker highlighted this case at the recent 2025 Local Ambulance Committee Conference in Bundaberg, promoting and congratulating the bystanders and staff for their successful lifesaving work.
“This is a brilliant example of the chain of survival, and how cardiac arrest can be survivable,” Tony said.
“Importantly, Jasmine and the family saw and recognised the cardiac arrest and responded immediately with a Triple Zero (000) call and CPR.
“This, followed by fast paramedic response, getting a defibrillator to the scene in six minutes meant Luke was given the best chance of survival.”